News

Protecting Sources

—John A. Tirpak1/6/2017

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​Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said his confidence in attributing the hacks that played a role in the November election to Russia was “very high.” Speaking before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday, Clapper said that if the intel community publicly presented all the evidence it has leading to that conclusion, “so it would be completely conclusive to everyone … we could just kiss off” the sources and methods used to obtain the knowledge. Sources and methods are “very fragile” and talking about them publicly would cause opponents to plug those holes rapidly and forcefully, Clapper said. The report that will be presented next week to Congress about Russia’s involvement in the election will be classified, but an unclassified version will be made public so that the electorate can “be informed” about what happened, Clapper said.